Player and playing method and program

ABSTRACT

A player includes a playing section configured to play contents data based on a list selected from multiple lists each having multiple pieces of contents data, and a play control section configured to: cause the playing section to play contents data based on a first list selected from the multiple lists, determine whether all of contents data on the first list have been played by the playing section or not, extract attribute information of contents data, which satisfies a predetermined condition, from the first list based on the determination result, select a second list, which is not the first list, including contents data corresponding to the extracted attribute information from the multiple lists, and control the playing section to automatically start playing the contents data on the selected second list.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present continuation application claims the benefit of priorityunder 35 U.S.C. §120 to application Ser. No. 12/716,901, filed on Mar.3, 2010, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.11/517,375, filed Sep. 8, 2006, and is based upon and claims the benefitof priority from prior Japanese Patent Application JP2005-266477 filedin the Japanese Patent Office on Sep. 14, 2005, the entire contents ofall of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a player and playing method and programwhich continuously play multiple pieces of audio data recorded on arecording medium.

2. Description of the Related Art

In recent years, many portable players having a compact hard disk driveas a recording medium have been commercially available. A compact harddisk drive has a recording capacity of the order of several gigabytes(GB) to several tens of GB and is being rapidly and widely spread sinceit can record a significantly large amount of contents data such asseveral hundreds to several thousands of contents pieces. Since such aplayer has a compact and light-weight cabinet, contents including audiodata such as a tune may be recorded on a recording medium and be carriedto outside along with the player. Thus, the tune recorded on therecording medium can be played outside for enjoyment. The interface forselecting and designating a track tune from significantly many tunesrecorded on a recording medium is preferably capable of selectingdesired contents fast. From the past, a desired track may be selected bymoving a cursor on a contents list displayed on a display section byusing a rotational wheel or a multi-direction key commanding the up/downor horizontal/vertical directions. For example, pressing a play key, forexample, may play contents corresponding to the cursor position.

Such a player may often play contents based on a list having multiplecontents pieces selected in a predetermined manner. For example, a listmay include contents pieces recorded in one album. Alternatively,without limiting thereto, a list may have contents organized in artistsor genres, for example. Alternatively, a user may create a list having acollection of the user's favorite contents. This is especially calleduser created list or simply playlist.

In a general method for playing based on a list, contents on a list areautomatically and sequentially played in a predetermined order, such asin an order of being listed on the list. When playing the last contentson the list ends, the player stays at a standby state until a userdesignates contents or a list to play next.

By the way, a portable player may often used under a condition that itis difficult to perform operations for searching and instructing to playdesired contents by viewing the screen of a display section of theplayer, such as on the move outdoors. On the other hand, according tothe technology in the past, the next playing operation is not startedunless an operation for instructing to play is given to a player everytime after the end of play of a list. Furthermore, when a playingoperation is instructed without selecting contents or a list, thecontents that the user prefers may not typically played, and the usermay feel inconvenience.

In order to resolve the inconvenience in playing the next contents afterthe end of the play of a list, JP-A-2004-241062 (Patent Document 1)discloses a technology that automatically moves to an playing operationon contents in the next album after all of contents in one album havebeen played.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, according to the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, thesubject to play is only automatically and sequentially changed in albumsor in folders managing multiple albums for continuous play. Then, thealbum or contents automatically played after playing the album selectedby a user may not typically fit to the user's preference, which is aproblem.

For example, as shown in the example in FIG. 23, album A is instructedto play, and, after playing contents A to G recorded in album A ends,the playing operation automatically moves to a playing operation onalbum B, which is the next album. The playing operation on album B isperformed in the track order. In this case, album A and album B orcontents G played last in album A and contents Y to be played first inalbum B may not be typically related in some way.

For example, Album B to be automatically played after the end of theplay of album A played by user's choice is not related to album A byuser's choice very much, contents, which does not fit to user'spreference” may be played after the end of play of album A by user'schoice. In this case, the user may feel pain to keep listening to theplayed contents.

Accordingly, it is desirable to propose a player and playing method andprogram, which can automatically start playing contents meeting user'spreference with no operation by a user after playing contents based on aplaylist selected by the user ends.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided aplayer including a playing section configured to play contents databased on a list selected from multiple lists each having multiple piecesof contents data, and a play control section configured to cause theplaying section to play contents data based on a first list selectedfrom the multiple lists, determine whether all of contents data on thefirst list have been played by the playing section or not, extractattribute information of contents data, which satisfies a predeterminedcondition, from the first list based on the determination result, selecta second list, which is not the first list, including contents datacorresponding to the extracted attribute information form the multiplelists, and control the playing section to automatically start playingthe contents data on the selected second list.

According to another embodiment of the invention, there is provided aplaying method including the steps of playing contents data based on afirst list selected from multiple lists each having multiple pieces ofcontents data, determining whether all of contents data on the firstlist have been played by the step of playing or not, extractingattribute information of contents data, which satisfies a predeterminedcondition, from the first list based on the determination result by thestep of determining, selecting a second list, which is not the firstlist, including contents data corresponding to the attribute informationextracted by the step of extracting from the multiple lists, andautomatically starting playing the contents data on the second listselected by the step of selecting.

According to another embodiment of the invention, there is provided aplaying program causing a computer apparatus to implement a playingmethod including the steps of playing contents data based on a firstlist selected from multiple lists each having multiple pieces ofcontents data, determining whether all of contents data on the firstlist have been played by the step of playing or not, extractingattribute information of contents data, which satisfies a predeterminedcondition, from the first list based on the determination result by thestep of determining, selecting a second list, which is not the firstlist, including contents data corresponding to the attribute informationextracted by the step of extracting from the multiple lists, andautomatically starting playing the contents data on the second listselected by the step of selecting.

As described above, according to the embodiments of the invention,contents data is played based on a list selected from multiple listseach having multiple pieces of contents data. A playing section iscaused to play contents data based on a first list selected from themultiple lists. Whether all of contents data on the first list have beenplayed or not is determined, and attribute information of contents data,which satisfies a predetermined condition, is extracted from the firstlist based on the determination result. A second list, which is not thefirst list, including contents data corresponding to the extractedattribute information is selected from the multiple lists. Then, playcontrol is performed to automatically start playing the contents data onthe selected second list. Thus, the play of contents data relating tocontents data played based on the first list can be automaticallystarted without any user operation even after the play based on thefirst list selected by the user ends.

As described above, according to the embodiments of the invention, afterall of contents on a first list are played, a second list, which is notthe first list, including contents data corresponding to attributeinformation of contents data, which satisfies a predetermined condition,on the first list is selected based on the attribute information, andthe contents data on the selected second list are automatically played.Thus, the play of contents data relating to the contents data playedbased on the first list can be automatically started without anyoperation by a user even after the play based on the first list selectedby the user ends.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example form of use of a playeraccording to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example appearance of aportable player according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example construction of a player;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram schematically showing an architectureapplicable to the player;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example construction of theattribute information table for managing attribute information ofcontents data in a database;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an example of processing of automaticallystarting preview-play;

FIGS. 7A to 7D are schematic diagrams showing display examples by adisplay section for the preview-play;

FIGS. 8A and 8B are schematic diagrams for describing processing inswitching the contents playing mode from preview-play to normal-play;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of processing in an artist linkmode;

FIGS. 10A to 10C are schematic diagrams showing display examples by thedisplay section for the artist link mode;

FIGS. 11A to 11D are schematic diagrams showing display examples by adisplay section for the artist link mode;

FIGS. 12A to 12D are schematic diagrams showing examples of play withoutperforming auto-play;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart schematically showing processing of starting theauto-play;

FIGS. 14A and 14B show schematic diagrams for describing the auto-play;

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram for describing seed contents;

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram for describing the seed contents;

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram for describing a correspondence betweenthe seed contents and contents in a playlist for the auto-play;

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram for describing a correspondence betweenthe seed contents and contents in a playlist for the auto-play;

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram for describing a correspondence betweenthe seed contents and contents in a playlist for the auto-play;

FIG. 20 is a diagram for describing subscription contents;

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing an example of processing of performingthe auto-play;

FIGS. 22A and 22B are schematic diagrams showing indicator displayexamples by a display section; and

FIG. 23 is a schematic diagram showing an example of automatic play inthe past.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to drawings, embodiments of the invention will bedescribed below. FIG. 1 shows an example form of use of a player 1according to an embodiment of the invention. The player 1 is a portabledevice (PD) having a compact and light-weight cabinet and plays contentsdata recorded on a recording medium, which is a hard disk drive here.The player 1 has an interface communicable with a personal computer 2(called PC 2 hereinafter), such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) andIEEE1394 (Institute Electrical and Electronics Engineers 1394)interface. In this example, the player 1 and the PC are connectedthrough a USB functioning as a communication interface.

The contents data recorded on the recording medium of the player 1 istune data, that is, audio data hereinafter. Each of tune data pieces maybe also called track.

A music server 4 provides a service such as download of contents dataover the Internet 3. The music server 4 associates and manages contentsdata with attribute information such as an artist, a recorded album anda music genre. The attribute information is preferably a melody or atempo. The music server 4 also manages ranking information based on thenumber of times of downloading given contents data and relationinformation (called artist link information) between/among artists andprovides a service based on the information over the Internet 3. Forexample, the music server 4 may provide a user with the rankinginformation and/or artist link information in addition to the attributeinformation. Alternatively, the date of release of a recorded album orcontents data may be added to the attribute information to provide.

A user may access the Internet 3 through the PC 2, for example, anddownload contents data from the music server 4 on the Internet 3. Thedownloaded contents may be stored in a hard disk drive, for example, ofthe PC 2. Furthermore, the user may connect the player 1 and the PCthrough a USB cable and transfer the contents data stored in the harddisk drive of the PC 2 to the player 1. The player 1 records thetransferred contents data on a recording medium contained therewithin.The user may disconnect between the PC 2 and the player 1 and play thecontents data recorded on the recording medium of the player 1 carriedoutside for enjoyment, for example.

A user can easily search currently popular contents by obtaining rankinginformation thereof as attribute information in addition to contentsdata to be downloaded from the music server 4. The user may learn otherartists related to the artist of the selected contents by additionallyobtaining artist link information as attribute information and easilysearch contents of the related artists. Furthermore, a user may easilysearch user's favorite contents by storing the history of the contentsdata played by the player 1.

FIG. 2 shows an example appearance of the portable player 1 according toan embodiment of the invention. The front face of the player 1schematically has a display section 10 and an operating section 20. Thedisplay section 10 is an LCD (liquid crystal display) functioning as adisplay element and displays information to a user. The operatingsection 20 has multiple keys and receives an operation from a user. Thedisplay section 10 is controllable in dots, for example, and may displaytext and/or a simple character and/or icon.

The top face of the player 1 has a hold switch 16 and a connectorsection 17. The hold switch 16 is used for switching between valid andinvalid modes for an operation on the operating section 20. Theconnector section 17 includes a connector for exchanging digital datawith external equipment such as the PC 2 and a headphone terminal foroutputting analog voice signals played by the player 1.

The keys in the operating section 20 will be described. Each of the keysmay be pressed to output a control signal expressed by the key.Different functions may be assigned to each of the keys depending on thelength of a pressed time. For example, different functions may beassigned to keys between the time for being pressed equal to or longerthan a predetermined period of time (called hold) and the time for beingpressed shorter than the predetermined period of time (called click). Inthe click operation, a function is executed when the corresponding keyis released within a predetermined period of time from the pressingoperation on the key. On the other hand, in the hold operation, afunction is executed when the corresponding key is continuously held forthe predetermined period of time or longer. The corresponding functionof a key, which is defined for the click operation only, is executedwhen the key is pressed. Furthermore, a key may be defined toautomatically regard as being pressed repeatedly when the key is heldfor a predetermined period of time or longer (which is calledkey-repeat).

Keys 11A and 11B are volume keys for increasing and decreasing the levelof played sound of contents data. Every click on the key 11A or 11Bchanges the sound level by one step. The key-repeat is available on thekeys 11A and 11B.

Keys 12A, 12B and 12C are keys for mainly controlling over the play ofcontents data. Clicking the key 12A sequentially instructs to play andpause to play contents data. Holding the key 12A changes the operationmode of the player 1 to a sleep mode. Clicking the key 12B instructs toplay the next contents data while holding the key 12B instructs tofast-forward the contents data being played currently. Also, clickingthe key 12C instructs to play the previous contents data while holdingthe key 12C instructs to fast-forward the contents data being playedcurrently.

A key 13 is a five-directional key including an enter key 13A at thecenter, and vertical and horizontal arrow keys (called up-key, down-key,left key and right key) around the enter key 13A and mainly instructs anoperation corresponding to the screen displayed on the display section10.

Clicking the enter key 13A sequentially instructs to play and pausecontents being played currently when the screen on the display section10 indicates that contents is being played currently. On the other hand,the enter key 13A is used for determining an item being currentlyselected on the display section 10 when the screen on the displaysection 10 does not indicate that contents is being displayed. The enterkey 13A also instructs to play all of contents on a list when thedisplay section 10 displays the list of contents.

Clicking the up-key and down-key of the keys of the key 13 switches theitem selected on the display section 10 upward and downward,respectively. Holding the up-key and down-key instructs to fast scrollthe list displayed on the display section 10. The key-repeat isavailable on the up-key and down-key until the function caused byholding is executed. The display on the screen may be scrolledvertically by using the up-key and down-key.

Clicking the left key and right key of the keys of the key 13 switchesthe item selected on the display section 10 to the left and right.Furthermore, the left key and right key can instruct to change pageswhen the screen displayed on the display section 10 has multiple pages.Holding is not defined for the left key and right key, but thekey-repeat is available on the left key and right key.

Clicking a discovery key 14 instructs to invoke an artist list functionusing artist link information. Holding the discovery key 14 invokes theartist link function and instructs to play the contents of all artistsdisplayed on the display section 10. The details of the artist linkfunction will be described later.

Clicking a key 15 instructs to return to the history of operations onthe player 1 while holding the key 15 causes the display section 10 todisplay a top menu.

The functions of the keys 13 to 15 above are only examples and are notlimited thereto. Functions depending on operation states may be assignedto the keys 13 to 15 in software.

FIG. 3 shows an example construction of the player 1. In the example inFIG. 3, the player 1 has three buses 30, 34 and 40. The bus 30 connectsto a hard disk drive (HDD) 32, a USB (universal serial bus) interface(I/F) 33 and a system gate array 36, and contents data is mainlytransferred therethrough. The USB controller 33 connects to a USBconnector 31 and controls the communication with external equipmentconnecting to the USB connector 31.

The bus 34 connects to a USB controller 33, a display control section 35and the system gate array 36, and a command is mainly transferredtherethrough. The display control section 35 drives the display section10 having an LCD, for example, based on a display control signalsupplied through the bus 34 and causes the display section 10 to displaythe screen in accordance with the display control signal.

The bus 40 connects to a microcomputer 41, the system gate array 36 anda ROM (read only memory) 42, and a command is mainly transferredtherethrough. The microcomputer 41 connects to a real time clock (RTC)46 and the operating section 20. The operating section 20 generates andsupplies a control signal in accordance with an operation on one of thekeys 11 to 15 to the microcomputer 41. The microcomputer 41 controls theentire player 1 in accordance with a program prestored in the ROM 42and/or hard disk drive 32 and based on the control signal supplied fromthe operating section 20. The microcomputer 41 generates a predetermineddisplay control signal in accordance with a program.

The microcomputer 41 internally has a D/A converter (DAC) section 44 andconverts audio data supplied from a decoder 43, which will be describedlater, to analog audio signals and supplies the analog audio signals toa headphone (HP) amplifier 45.

The ROM 42 may be a re-writable EEPROM (Electrically ErasableProgrammable Read Only Memory), for example, and a program storedtherein can be updated. A program for updating may be supplied from anexternal computer apparatus via the USB connector 31. Apparently, theprogram stored in the hard disk drive 32 may be updated in the samemanner.

The player 1 may be considered as a computer apparatus practically sincethe player 1 is controlled by the microcomputer 41 in accordance with aprogram stored in the ROM 42 and/or hard disk drive 32.

The system gate array 36 controls over the exchange of data and/orcommands among the buses 30, 34 and 40. The system gate array 36connects to the RAM 37 and the decoder 43, which decodes compressed andencoded audio data. The RAM 37 is used as a work memory of themicrocomputer 41 and is also used as a buffer for audio data to bedecoded by the decoder 43. For example, the RAM 37 has a storagecapacity of 16 megabytes (MB), and a predetermined area of 12 MB thereofis reserved as a buffer memory area for audio data.

A remote control terminal 47 remotely controls the player 1 in a wiredmanner and connects to a remote control commander having a headphoneterminal. An analog audio signal output from the headphone amplifier 45is derived to the remote control terminal 47. The system gate array 36and the remote control terminal 47 are connected, and a control signalbased on the operation on the retime control commander is input from theremote control terminal 47 and is supplied to the microcomputer 41through the system gate array 36 and the bus 40.

The USB terminal 31 and remote control terminal 47 are provided in theconnector section 17, the example of which is shown in FIG. 2. A holdswitch 16, not shown, connects to the microcomputer 41.

The player 1 and the PC 2 are connected in a wired manner in thedescription above, but the invention is not limited thereto. Forexample, a wireless communication I/F (not shown) that controls wirelesscommunication may be connected to the bus 30, and the wirelesscommunication may be used for performing the exchange of commandsbetween the player 1 and the PC 2 and transfer of contents data from thePC 2 to the player 1.

FIG. 4 schematically shows an architecture applicable to the player 1. AUI (User Interface) task 60 is responsible for the user interface fordisplay on the display section 10 and for generation of a control signalbased on an operation on the operating section 20. For example, the UItask 60 may control a cursor display 70 based on an operation on the key13 of the operating section 20 and/or generate a control command basedon an operation on the keys 12A to 12C for controlling the play of audiodata. The play control command may include play, stop (for stoppingplay), feed-forward (for playing and fast-forwarding simultaneously),rewind (for playing and rewinding simultaneously), cue (for forwardingto a predetermined position without playing), review (for returning to apredetermined position without playing), pause (for pausing play) and soon.

A player task 61 is positioned at a lower level of the UI task 60 and isresponsible for the management relating to the play of contents data.The player task 61 may grasp contents to be played by exchanging datawith a database, which will be described later, in accordance with aninstruction from the UI task 60, for example, and supply a play controlcommand for contents data to a lower task. The player task 61 maytypically know the current play mode and return the play mode to the UItask 60 and performs play control in accordance with the play mode.

The play mode herein is an operation mode relating to an order ofplaying of contents and may include a normal mode for playing in orderof listing and a shuffle mode for randomly changing the order ofplaying.

A buffer task 62, a database (DB) management task 63 and a decodercontrol task 65 are positioned below the player task 61. The buffer task62 may control reading/writing from/to a buffer memory area of the RAM37 and control reading of audio data from the hard disk drive 32. Thebuffer task 62 analyzes header information of audio data stored in thebuffer memory. The buffer memory is controlled by the buffer task 62 asa ring buffer logically connecting the first address and the lastaddress.

The database management task 63 manages contents data recorded in thehard disk drive 32. For example, the database management task 63 managesthe contents data recorded in the hard disk drive 32 by connectingidentification information (ID) for identifying the contents datarecorded in the hard disk drive 32, information indicating the placewhere the contents data is recorded, and attribute information of thecontents data. The database management task 63 also manages artist linkinformation. The details of the database managed by the databasemanagement task 63 will be described later.

The decoder control task 65 controls decoding processing on audio databy the decoder 43. The control by the decoder control task 65 may beperformed in connection with the control by the buffer task 62, forexample.

An OS (operating system) 68 centrally manages an upper task with respectto the OS 68 such as the UI task 60, the player task 61, the buffer task62, the decoder control task 65 and the database management task 63 andprovides a basic function in software to the tasks. For example, the OS68 provides an upper task with a file system for managing a filerecorded on the hard disk drive 32. The file system may performmanagement in logical addresses in a recording area of the hard diskdrive 32 and file management on the hard disk drive 32 and provides asystem of data reading/writing from/to the hard disk drive 32.

The OS 68 further manages each hardware in the player 1 and performsmediating processing between the upper tasks and hardware 69 of theplayer 1. For example, the OS 68 includes an HDD driver 64 controllingthe hard disk drive 32, a buffer control section 66 controllingreading/writing from/to a buffer memory area of the RAM 37 and a decodercontrol section 67 controlling the decoder 43.

The OS 68 and tasks 60 to 65 shown in FIG. 4 may be implemented byoperations by the microcomputer 41 in accordance with programs stored orrecorded in the ROM 42 and/or hard disk drive 32.

Once the player 1 and the PC 2 are connected via a USB cable in thisconstruction, the USB controller 33 performs data exchange in apredetermined manner with the PC 2 so that the player 1 can berecognized as a hard disk drive, which is removable from the PC 2. Inother words, the PC 2 can record the contents data stored in the harddisk drive within the PC 2 onto the hard disk drive 32 of the player 1by using a file copy function provided by the OS in the PC 2.

The PC 2 transmits contents data and a command via the USB cable. Thecontents data and command are received by the USB controller 33. Thereceived contents data is transferred from the USB controller 33 to thehard disk drive 32 through the bus 30 and is written in the hard diskdrive 32. The received command is captured by the microcomputer 41 fromthe USB controller 33 through the system gate array 36.

The processing in playing will be described. For example, themicrocomputer 41 refers to the database of contents recorded in the harddisk drive 32 and generates a display control signal for displaying alist of the contents. The display control signal is supplied to thedisplay control section 35 through the system gate array and bus 34 andis converted to a drive signal for driving the display section 10. Thedrive signal is supplied to the display section 10, and a list ofplayable contents data is displayed in a predetermined manner inaccordance with the display control signal.

A user may manipulate the operating section 20 in a predetermined mannerbased on the display on the display section 10, for example, wherebycontents data to be played is selected. A control signal based on themanipulation is output from the operating section 20. The microcomputer41 monitors the control signal output from the operating section 20 and,when the control signal instructing to play is captured, issues acommand for instructing to read out contents data instructed to play.The command is transmitted to the hard disk drive 32 through the systemgate array 36 and bus 30.

The contents data read out from the hard disk drive 32 is supplied tothe system gate array 36 through the bus 30. The system gate array 36stores the supplied contents data in a buffer memory area of the RAM 37.The system gate array 36 reads out and transfers each predeterminedamount of the contents data stored in the buffer memory area of the RAM37 to the decoder 43. The microcomputer monitors the amount of contentsdata stored in the buffer memory area of the RAM 37 and, when the amountof stored data is equal to or lower than a predetermined amount,transmits an instruction to read out contents data to the hard diskdrive 32 through the system gate array 36 and bus 30.

The decoder 43 decodes the transferred contents data and transfers it tothe microcomputer 41 as audio data in a baseband. The microcomputer 41performs acoustic processing on the audio data transferred from thedecoder in a predetermined manner as required, and the DAC section 44D/A converts and outputs it as analog audio signals. The analog audiosignal is supplied to the HP amplifier 45, undergoes amplificationprocessing and is derived to the remote control terminal 47.

The player 1 can record the history of operations as a log file. Forexample, information on contents read out from the hard disk drive 32and played may be recorded in the log file accumulatively. In this case,the time of the start of play of played contents and the time of the endof play may be obtained based on the output of the real time clock 46and be recorded in the log file in connection with the contents.

Next, a database for managing contents data recorded in the hard diskdrive 32 will be described. The database is managed by the databasemanagement task 63 above. FIG. 5 shows a construction of an example ofthe attribute information table for managing attribute information ofcontents data in the database.

In the example in FIG. 5, a record on the contents attribute informationtable has fields “CONTENTS ID”, “ALBUM ID”, “ARTIST ID”, “GENRE ID”,“RELEASE INFORMATION”, “FREQUENCY OF PLAY”, “RATING”, “RANKINGINFORMATION”, “SALES INFORMATION” and “DATE OF REGISTRATION”.

The field, “CONTENTS ID”, stores an identifier unique to each contents.The field, “ARTIST ID”, may store an identifier of an artist who playsthe contents with the corresponding contents ID. The field, “RELEASEINFORMATION”, stores the year, month and day when contents with theapplicable contents ID has been released. In general, the year, monthand day shown in the field, “RELEASE INFORMATION” is identical to thedate of release of the album recording contents indicated by theapplicable contents ID.

The field, “FREQUENCY OF PLAY” increments by one every time contents ofa given record is played, for example.

The field, “RATING” is how much a user prefers the contents (calleddegree of favorite hereinafter) of a given record, for example. Forexample, the degree of favorite may be calculated based on the result ofanalysis of the log file storing the history of play of the contents inthe player 1. For example, the degree of favorite may be calculatedbased on a value such as the number of times of play or skip of thecontents, which is calculated from the history of play. The term,“skip”, refers to stopping the play of contents in the middle withoutplaying the entire contents. Alternatively, the degree of favorite maybe calculated by determining whether the entire contents has been playedor not or, if skipped, what percentage of the entire contents has beenplayed.

The degree of favorite may be calculated in the player 1 or may becalculated in the PC 2 by transferring the log file from the player 1 tothe PC 2 upon connection of the player 1 to the PC 2. The degree offavorite calculated by the PC 2 is transferred from the PC 2 to theplayer 1 and is written in the database of the player 1.

The field, “RANKING INFORMATION”, may be based on information resultingfrom the compilation of reactions to given contents by any number ofusers in a predetermined manner. For example, the ranking informationmay be information indicating the number of sales of given contents.Alternatively, the ranking information may be the number of requests forgiven contents in a radio station or information indicating the numberof test-listen in a Web site where the test-listen of given contents isavailable. Furthermore, the ranking information may be informationindicating the rank (such as this week's top 10) resulting fromcompilation in a predetermined manner.

The field, “SALE INFORMATION”, stores information on sales of an albumindicated by the field, “ALBUM ID” within a given record.

The field, “DATE OF REGISTRATION”, may store the date and time wheninformation in a given record is registered with the database and thedate and time when the information is updated, for example.

In the example in FIG. 5, the value stored in each of the fields of agiven record is an ID, which is pointer information to real data. Forexample, each of the fields stores pointer information to a given recordon another table storing real data, resulting in a relational databaseas a whole. The contents ID is a value unique to each contents data, andeach record on the attribute information table is associated with realcontents data by the contents ID. Notably, the construction of thedatabase is not limited to this example, and real data may be stored foreach field, excluding the field, “CONTENTS ID”.

The fields, “RANKING INFORMATION” and “SALES INFORMATION”, are updatedat a predetermined time. For example, when new contents data isdownloaded from the music server 4 to the PC 2, the ranking informationfor each contents data stored in the PC 2 and/or sales informationcorresponding to the album ID may be downloaded. Then, when the contentsdata is transferred from the PC 2 to the player 1, the rankinginformation and/or sales information may also be transferred, wherebythe database may be updated.

The method for obtaining the ranking information and/or salesinformation is not limited thereto. For example, the ranking informationand sales information may be transmitted periodically from the musicserver 4 to the Internet 3. When the PC 2 receives the rankinginformation and sales information transmitted from the music server 4,the PC 2 saves the received information in the hard disk drive of the PC2 once. Then, the next time the player 1 and the PC 2 are connected, theranking information and sales information saved in the PC 2 aretransferred to the player 1.

The construction of the attribute information table shown in FIG. 5 isonly an example that can implement the invention, and the invention isnot limited thereto.

The database management task 63 further manages artist link information.The artist link information may be the result of association ofinformation on related Artists B, C and so on with Artist A, forexample. For example, when Artist A produces Album Z together withArtists B and C, the Artists B and C may be related artists to Artist A.Alternatively, another artist may be associated with Artist A based onthe style of Artist A. For example, another artist may be associatedwith Artist A based on the melody and/or tempo of main contents ofArtist A. Furthermore, another artist may be associated with Artist Abased on the age when Artist A plays an active part. Furthermore, artistinformation may be associated based on multiple kinds of informationrelating to a given artist and/or contents of the artist.

The artist link information may be defined in a stepwise manner based onthe degree of association with a subject artist. For example, first andsecond artist link information may be associated with Artist A. Thefirst artist link information includes information on Artists B, C, Dand so on who are strongly related to Artist A. The second artistinformation includes information on Artists O, P, Q and so on who areweakly related to Artist A. For example, two kinds of table may becreated for each of artist information managed by the databasemanagement task 63. Alternatively, the degree of relation may be definedin each of all artist information managed by the database managementtask 63 and organized in matrix. However, the construction of the artistlink information is not limited to these examples.

The artist link information may be provided to a user side as a serviceof the music server 4 side, for example, and may be downloaded from themusic server 4 to the PC 2 over the Internet 3, be transferred from thePC 2 to the player 1 and be recorded in the hard disk drive 32. Forexample, a list of contents recorded in the hard disk drive of the PC 2or in the hard disk drive 32 of the player 1 may be transmitted from thePC 2 to the music server 4. The music server 4 creates artist linkinformation based on the list of contents and with reference toattribute information and transmits it to the PC 2. However, theinvention is not limited thereto, but artist link information may becreated by a user side.

The player 1 can automatically play a predetermined part of contentswhen a cursor display stays for a predetermined period of time or longerat a position corresponding to the display indicating the contents withthe cursor display during a contents selecting operation. In thefollowing description, selectively playing a predetermined part ofcontents only is called preview-play while playing the entire contentsis called normal-play. The method of preview-play will be describedlater.

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example of processing of automaticallystarting preview-play. FIGS. 7A to 7D show display examples on thedisplay section 10 corresponding to flowchart in FIG. 6. A contents listis displayed on the display section 10 (step S10). For example, as shownin FIG. 7A, a list of names of contents is displayed on the displaysection 10, and a cursor display 70 is displayed at an initial position.

The cursor display 70 may be displayed by supplying a display controlsignal for performing cursor display at a predetermined position, whichis generated by the microcomputer 41, for example, to the displaycontrol section 35 through the system gate array 36 and bus 34 and thusdriving the display section 10 based on the display control signal inthe display control section 35. The position of the cursor display 70 ismoved and designated by manipulating the up- and/or down-key on the key13, for example.

In the examples in FIGS. 7A to 7D, the cursor display 70 is thehighlighted contents name in color. However, the method of displayingthe cursor display 70 is not limited to the example. In other words, thecursor display may be displayed at a position corresponding to thecontents name, and a cursor display may be implemented by displaying apredetermined mark at the beginning of the contents name, for example.

In step S11, whether the cursor display 70 has been moved or not isdetermined. If the cursor display 70 has not been moved without any keyinput through the up-key and/or down-key of the key 13 by a user, themicrocomputer 41 in step S12 measures a time T that the cursor display70 stays at the position of the name of arbitrary contents, and whetherthe time T is longer than a predetermined time T_(th) or not isdetermined. For example, referring to FIG. 7B, if the cursor display 70moves to the position of the contents name, “CCCCC”, the microcomputer41 starts measuring the time T based on the output of the real timeclock 46 and determines whether the cursor display 70 is moved from theposition of the contents name, “CCCCC”, to another position before thetime T exceeds the predetermined time T_(th).

The predetermined time T_(th) may be the order of 0.5 seconds, forexample. The value of the predetermined time T_(th) is preferablychangeable by a user.

If it is determined in step S12 that the time T exceeds thepredetermined time T_(th), the processing moves to step S13. In stepS13, a part of contents corresponding to the current position of thecursor display 70 is played. For example, if the cursor display 70 movedto the position of the contents name, “CCCCC”, as shown in FIG. 7B staysat the position of the contents name, “CCCCC”, as shown in the examplein FIG. 7C, for the predetermined time T_(th) or longer, a part ofcontents data corresponding to the contents name, “CCCCC”, is played,and the contents indicated by the contents name, “CCCCC”, ispreview-played.

In the preview-play mode, the beginning of contents data is played for apredetermined period of time (such as 10 seconds). Here, the play may bestopped when the part corresponding to the first predetermined period oftime of the entire real contents data is played, or a special file forpreview-play may be created and played. The special file forpreview-play may be automatically created before the contents data isrecorded in the hard disk drive 32, for example.

The position to start preview-play may be a position where apredetermined period of time has passed from the beginning of contentsdata, not limiting to the beginning of contents data. For example, theposition in time after 45 seconds from the beginning of contents datamay be the position of start of preview-play, and the part correspondingto 30 seconds from the position may be a preview-play period.Alternatively, the position of preview-play to be extracted from eachcontents may depend on contents.

When the preview-play of given contents ends, the preview-play of thecontents positioned next may be automatically started. In the example inFIGS. 7A to 7D, when the preview-play of the contents with name,“CCCCC”, ends, and the cursor display 70 is not moved, the preview-playof the contents indicated by the next contents name, “DDDDD”, may beautomatically started.

The cursor display 70 may be moved by performing a key operation duringthe preview-play. Also in this case, when the cursor display 70 stays atthe position of the destination contents name for the predetermined timeT_(th), the contents corresponding to the position of the cursor display70 is preview-played.

For example, referring to FIG. 7C, for example, the cursor display 70may be moved from the position of the contents name, “CCCCC”, byperforming a key operation during the preview-play of the contents.Then, the cursor display 70 is moved to the position of the contentsname, “EEEEE”, through the position of the contents name, “DDDDD”,within the predetermined time T_(th), and the cursor display 70 isstayed thereat. The microcomputer 41 measures the staying time T of thecursor display 70, and if the time T exceeds the predetermined timeT_(th), the preview-play of the contents indicated by the contents name,“CCCCC”, is stopped. Then, the preview-play of the contents indicated bythe contents name, “EEEEE”, is started.

Performing a confirmation operation on selected contents duringpreview-play may change the contents play mode from the preview-play tothe normal-play. After the transition from the preview-play to thenormal-play, the display on the display section 10 may be switched tothe display indicating that the normal-play mode is currently on asshown in the example in FIG. 7D. In the example in FIG. 7D, the text,“Now Playing” indicates that the normal-play is on, and the attributeinformation of the contents indicated by the contents name, “CCCCC”,being played is displayed.

Processing for switching the contents playing mode from the preview-playto the normal-play will be described which is resulted from aconfirmation operation for the contents selected by manipulating theenter key 13A, for example. In this case, two methods of playing by thenormal-play may be considered including a first method in which the playis started from the beginning of contents data after preview-play and asecond method in which the play is continuously performed from theposition where the preview-play is stopped.

The methods will be described briefly with reference to FIGS. 8A and 8B.Here, a case will be considered in which the time for preview-play is 10seconds from the beginning of contents data, and the contents data onthe first, second and third tracks are automatically and sequentiallypreview-played until a confirmation operation is performed in the middleof the preview-play of the third track. In FIGS. 8A and 8B, the positionof the start of preview-play is the beginning of contents, and thepreview-play period is 10 seconds.

In the first method, as shown in the example in FIG. 8A, when aconfirmation operation is performed by manipulating the enter key 13A,for example, in the middle of the preview-play of the third track (thatis, when an instruction to play is given), the preview-play of the thirdtrack is stopped upon the confirmation operation. Then, after apredetermined period of time, the entire contents data of the thirdtrack is played from the beginning.

On the other hand, in the second method, as shown in the example in FIG.8B, when a confirmation operation is performed in the middle of thepreview-play of the third track, the preview-play is stopped upon theconfirmation operation, and the contents data corresponding to thepreview-played contents is continuously played from the positioncorresponding to the position where the preview-play is stopped whilethe preview-play is stopped.

Having described a list of contents recorded on the hard disk drive 32is directly displayed on the display section 10, but the invention isnot limited thereto. In other words, the hard disk drive 32 is capableof recording several hundreds to several thousands of contents datapieces. The operation for searching contents from such a large amount ofdata can be simplified by using the automatic preview-play based on thestaying time of the cursor display 70 and the attribute information ofthe contents.

A method of selecting contents by using the artist link information willbe described as an example of the application of the preview-play. Themode for selecting contents by using artist link information will becalled artist link mode hereinafter.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing example processing in the artist linkmode. FIGS. 10A to 11D show a transition of displays of the displaysection 10 in accordance with the processing shown in FIG. 9. First ofall, it is assumed that the playing operation mode of the player 1 isthe normal-play mode and that Contents X of Artist A is normally played.Here, for example, the discovery key 14 of the operating section 20 maybe manipulated to start the artist link mode. When the artist link modeis started, the microcomputer 41 refers to the artist link information,and the display of the display section 10 is switched to the artist linkscreen as shown in the example in FIG. 10A. Thus, Artist A and a list ofArtists B, C and so on related to Artist A is displayed on a listdisplay part 71A (step S20).

In this example, the names of artists are sorted and listed on thedisplay in the decreasing order of the number of contents recorded inthe hard disk drive 32 with reference to the attribute informationtable. The cursor display 70 is displayed at the position of Artist A. Aplaying contents display part 71B displays information on contents beingcurrently played. The order of the sort of the names of artists is notlimited to this example. When the cursor display 70 is displayed at theposition of Artist A, the normal-play of the contents (Contents X ofArtist A in this example), which is played in the normal-play modeimmediately before the start of the artist link mode, is continued.

When the down-key of the key 13 is manipulated, for example, from thestate above, the cursor display 70 moves to the position of the list ofthe related Artists B, C and so on as shown in the example in FIG. 10B(step S21), and the operation mode moves to the preview-play mode. Inthe example in FIG. 10B, in accordance with the manipulation on the downkey by a user, the cursor display 70 stays at the position of Artist Cthrough the position of Artist B within a predetermined time T_(th)(such as 0.5 seconds).

Whether the cursor display 70 stays at the position of Artist C for thepredetermined time T_(th) or longer or not is determined based on themeasurement result by the microcomputer 41 (step S22). If the stayingtime T is equal to or longer than the predetermined time T_(th), theprocessing moves to step S23. In step S23, contents is automaticallyselected from the contents data relating to the item where the cursordisplay 70 positions with reference to the attribute information table30 and under a predetermined rule.

For example, referring to FIG. 10B, the cursor display 70 is at theposition of the item, “Artist C”, and Contents P, Q, R and S arerecorded in the hard disk drive 32 as the contents of Artist C. TheContents P, Q, R and S are sorted in the decreasing order of ratingbased on the attribute information table 30. In this case, the field,“HISTORY OF PLAY”, on the attribute information table 30 is used as theitem to be rated, and the contents are sorted in the decreasing order ofthe frequency of play. Without limiting thereto, the field, “RANKINGINFORMATION”, on the attribute information table 30 may be used, and thecontents may be sorted in the decreasing order of popularity.Alternatively, the degree of favorite may be rated based on the numberof times of playing or skipping each contents, which is obtained fromthe history of play. The item to be rated is preferably definable by auser as necessary. In step S23, the Contents P having the highest ratingis automatically selected by the microcomputer 41, for example.

In the next step S24, the selected contents P is preview-played. Thedisplay section 10 still displays the artist link screen, and theplaying contents display part 71B displays the preview-played contents(FIG. 10C).

In the next step S25, whether the preview-play of the contents P hascompleted or not is determined with the cursor display 70 stayed at theposition of Artist C. If it is determined that the preview-play hascompleted, the processing moves to step S26 where the next selectedcontents is automatically preview-played. For example, the contents(which is contents Q here) having the next highest rating to thecontents P is automatically preview-played. The display section 10 stilldisplays the artist link screen, and the playing contents display part71B displays the contents being preview-played (FIG. 11A). Then, theprocessing returns to step S25.

Notably, steps S25 and S26 are repeated, and, after all of the contents,which is recorded in the hard disk drive 32, of Artist C with the cursordisplay 70 stayed thereat are preview-played, the contents of the nextartist (such as Artist D) is automatically preview-played. Here, thedisplay section 10 still displays the artist link screen, and the cursordisplay 70 is automatically moved to the position corresponding toArtist D on the list display part 71A (FIG. 11B). The playing contentsdisplay part 71B displays a display indicating Contents T beingpreview-played.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S25 that the preview-playis in progress, the processing moves to step S27 where whether the playmode is to be moved from the preview-play mode to the normal-play modeor not.

For example, when a confirmation operation is performed by manipulatingthe enter key 13A, for example, at the state in FIG. 11A, the display ofthe display section 10 is switched to a contents list screen as shown inthe example in FIG. 11C where the contents of Artist C is selectable. Onthe contents list screen, the list display part 71A displays a list ofcontents of Artist C, and the playing contents display part 71Bindicates the contents being preview-played currently.

When a confirmation operation is performed on the contents bymanipulating the enter key 13A, for example, at the state in FIG. 11B,it is determined that the playing mode is to be moved to the normal-playmode. Then, in the next step S28, the Contents Q being currentlypreview-played is normally played. The display section 10 still displaysthe contents list screen, and the playing contents display part 71Bdisplays a display indicating the contents selected for the normal-play(FIG. 11C). When the contents Q is normally played, the value of thefield, “HISTORY OF PLAY” increments by one in the record correspondingto the Contents Q on the attribute information table 30.

If no instruction is given for the normal-play, the processing returnsto step S25 where the preview-play is continued. When the cursor display70 is not moved after the end of the preview-play of the Contents Q, thepreview-play of the Contents R having the next highest rating isautomatically started. The cursor display 70 is then moved to theposition of the Contents R.

Notably, even if it is determined in step S25 that the preview-play isin progress, the cursor display 70 may be moved with the artist linkscreen in FIG. 11A displayed, and another artist is selectable. In otherwords, if it is determined in step S25 that the preview-play is inprogress and if the cursor display 70 is moved, the processing returnsto step S23 where the contents of the artist corresponding to theposition of the cursor display 70 may be preview-played in the samemanner.

Next, a play control method according to an embodiment of the inventionwill be described. According to an embodiment of the invention, when theplay of contents designated by a user's operation ends, another contentsrelating to the played contents is searched, and the searched contentsis automatically started to play based on the search result. A user cancontinuously listen to other contents fitting to the user's preferenceat that time without performing any operation on the player 1 even afterthe play of the contents selected by the user ends.

In the following description, the term, “auto-play”, refers to theautomatic play of contents on another list after the end of the play ofcontents on one list, and the term, “auto-play mode”, refers to the playmode in which the auto-play is performed.

First of all, referring to FIGS. 12A to 12D, examples of play withoutperforming the auto-play will be described. FIG. 12A shows an example ofplay based on an artist tree. In the play based on an artist tree,Artist P is designated based on a user's operation, and contentscorresponding to the designated Artist P is searched from a contentsmanagement database. Then, a list of contents to be played is createdbased on the searched contents. The list of contents to be played isstored in the RAM 37, for example. When all of the contents to be playedare played, the contents playing processing ends, moving to and keepingthe standby state until the next user's operation.

FIGS. 12B and 12C show similar examples to that of FIG. 12A. FIG. 12Bshows an example of play based on an album tree. In this case, Album Qis designated based on a user's operation, and contents recorded in thedesignated Album Q are searched from the database, and contents areautomatically and sequentially played in accordance with the list ofcontents to be played, which is created based on the search result. FIG.12C shows an example of play based on a genre tree. In this case, GenreR is designated based on a user's operation, and the contents belongingto the designated Genre R are searched from the database, and thecontents are automatically and sequentially played in accordance withthe list of contents to be played, which is created based on the searchresult. FIG. 12D shows an example of play based on a playlist, which iscreated by a user, for example. In this case, the contents on theplaylist are automatically and sequentially played as contents to beplayed.

In the play mode without auto-play in all of the examples in FIGS. 12Ato 12D, when the play of the last contents ends, the playing operationin the player 1 ends, which is followed by the standby state until thenext user's operation.

According to an embodiment of the invention, when the play of allcontents to be played, which have been designated by an user'soperation, ends, contents related to the played contents is searchedfrom a predetermined playlist based on the played contents, and theauto-play is automatically started based on the searched contents.

FIG. 13 schematically shows processing of starting the auto-play. Whenthe play of all of contents to be played ends based on a user'sselection (step S30), a lapse of a predetermined time N is waited in thenext step S31. In other words, in step S31, whether the state with nooperations by a user including powering-off and contents searchcontinues for the predetermined time N or longer or not is determined.If it is determined that the predetermined time N has passed with nooperation given by a user, the processing moves to step S32 where theauto-play is started.

The predetermined time N may be a time during which a user can performan operation on the player 1. For example, the predetermined time N maybe five seconds.

For example, as shown in FIGS. 14A and 14B, the play of contents basedon an artist tree relating to Artist A is started from Contents “AAAA”,which is the first one of contents to be played, and ends with the lastcontents, “XXXX” (see FIG. 14A). Each contents is associated withattribute information (metadata) by a contents management database. Inthe example in FIGS. 14A and 14B, the contents to be played next isselected from a predetermined playlist based on attribute information ofthe last contents, “XXXX” of the contents to be played. For example, asshown in the example in FIG. 14B, the play-start contents may bedetermined in a predetermined playlist for the auto-play based on thecontents ID of the last contents, “XXXX”, of the contents to be played.

The contents to be used for determining the play-start contents for theauto-play on the list, like the contents, “XXXX” in FIGS. 14A and 14B,is called seed contents. The predetermined playlist for the auto-play,that is, the list having contents to be played in the auto-play iscalled auto-play playlist.

Having described that the last played contents before starting theauto-play is seed contents, the contents to be the seed contents is notlimited to the last played contents. The contents to be the seedcontents may be determined under various rules as follows:

(1) The last played contents before starting the auto-play may bedetermined as the seed contents;

(2) The contents with the highest rating among contents played from thestart of the player 1 until the last contents before starting theauto-play may be determined as the seed contents;

(3) The contents with the highest number of times of play (the highestfrequency of play) among contents played from the start of the player 1until the last contents before starting the auto-play may be determinedas the seed contents; and

(4) The latest contents transferred to the player 1 among contentsplayed from the start of the player 1 until the last contents beforestarting the auto-play may be determined as the seed contents.

With reference to FIGS. 15 and 16, the determination of the seedcontents will be described more specifically. It should be noted thatthe auto-play is performed based on the history of play in the player 1in FIGS. 15 and 16. The history of play may be created by listing thecontents played in the player 1 in a time-base manner based on the timesthat the contents are played with reference to the log file recorded inthe hard disk drive 32, for example. The description in the log fileitself may be used as the history of play. The history of play may beused as the auto-play playlist.

Since the history of play has a list of contents that a user actuallyhas played by using the player 1, the contents selected from the historyof play may be considered as having the reflection of the user'spreference.

FIG. 15 shows an example under the rule (1) in which the last playedcontents before starting the auto-play may be determined as the seedcontents. In response to a user's operation, contents from Contents A toContents G are played, and the play ends with Contents G. For example,if it is determined that no user's operation is performed on the player1 even after a lapse of the predetermined time N after the end of theplay of Contents G, the end of the play may be determined. Contents G,which has been played last before the start of the auto-play isdetermined as the seed contents.

The contents having a contents ID agreeing with the contents ID of theseed contents is searched from the auto-play playlist. In this case, thecontents search is performed chronologically from the oldest time ofplay in the history of play. When the contents having an ID agreeingwith the contents ID of the seed contents can be searched in theauto-play playlist, the contents listed next to the searched contents onthe auto-play playlist is determined as the play-start contents in theauto-play. In this example, Contents Z with the next oldest time of playto the searched Contents G in the history of play is determined as theplay-start contents.

The play is started from the play-start Contents Z on the auto-playplaylist, and subsequent contents are automatically and sequentiallyplayed in listed order. The auto-play playlist may be used repeatedly,for example, and the contents on the list are continuously andsequentially played from the beginning after the end of the play of thelast contents on the list. The play may end with the last contents onthe auto-play playlist.

FIG. 16 is an example under the rule (2) in which the contents with thehighest rating among contents played from the start of the player 1until the last contents before starting the auto-play may be determinedas the seed contents. Notably, the example in which the seed contents isselected based on the number of times of play under the rule (3) and theexample in which the seed contents is selected based on the time oftransfer to the player 1 under the rule (4) have similar operations tothat of the example in FIG. 16.

For example, Contents A is first played after powering on and startingthe player 1, and Contents B, C and so on are then played. Then, theplay in accordance with a user's operation ends with the play ofContents G. In this case, the rating information for the Contents A to Gplayed from the start of the player 1 to the end of the play inaccordance with the user's operation is obtained with reference to acontents management database. Then, the contents (Contents D here) withthe highest rating is determined as the seed contents. Then, thecontents having the contents ID agreeing with the Contents ID of theseed contents is searched from the auto-play playlist. The contentslisted next to the searched contents (Contents G in the example in FIG.16) is determined as the play-start contents in the auto-play.

The rule for selecting contents as the seed contents is not limited tothe example rules (1) to (4), but any rule may be adopted for theselection.

Having described that one piece of contents is determined as seedcontents and that the auto-play is started based on the seed contents,the invention is not limited to the example. In other words, theplay-start contents by the auto-play may be selected based on multiplepieces of contents having played before the start of the auto-play.

For example, the play-start contents may be selected based on the genrehaving played most among contents played from the start of the player 1until the end of the play in accordance with a user's operation. Forexample, when contents belonging to Genre R among played contents areplayed most, the contents belonging to the Genre R is searched from theauto-play playlist, and the contents played at the oldest time among thesearched contents may be determined as the play-start contents. In thesame manner, the play-start contents may be selected by usinginformation such as an album recording contents and/or an artistcorresponding to contents and based on the information on multiplepieces of played contents.

In this way, according to this embodiment of the invention, play-startcontents is selected from the auto-play playlist based on the attributeinformation of played contents on the list selected by a user after theend of the play of the list, and then the auto-play playlist isautomatically played. Thus, after the end of the play of a list selectedby a user, the user can start the play of contents relating to theplayed list without any operation on the player 1. Therefore, even undera circumstance that an operation on the player 1 is difficult such as onthe move, the user can continuously enjoy contents fitting to the user'spreference.

Next, the auto-play playlist will be described in more details. In thedescription above, the auto-play playlist is based on the history ofplay, and the play-start contents is selected based on the contentshaving the contents ID agreeing with the contents ID of the seedcontents on the auto-play playlist. However, the invention is notlimited thereto, but the play-start contents may be selected based onthe other attribute information than the contents ID of the seedcontents.

For example, no contents may have the contents ID agreeing with thecontents ID of the seed contents on a prepared auto-play playlist. Inthis case, the play-start contents may be selected based on the otherattribute information than the contents ID of the seed contents.

With reference to FIGS. 17 to 19, the correspondence between the seedcontents and contents on the auto-play playlist will be described. Inand as shown in FIGS. 17 to 19, the seed contents is Contents D recordedin Album B of Artist A, and the genre of the contents is Genre K.

FIG. 17 is an example in which the contents having the contents IDagreeing with the contents ID of the seed contents exists on theauto-play playlist. For example, the auto-play playlist is searchedbased on the contents ID of the seed contents, and if the contentshaving the contents ID agreeing with the contents ID of the seedcontents exists on the auto-play playlist, the contents listed next tothe contents (Contents C in the example in FIG. 17) on the auto-playplaylist is determined as the play-start contents.

FIGS. 18 and 19 show an example in which no contents on the auto-playplaylist has the contents ID agreeing with the contents ID of the seedcontents. In this case, the play-start contents on the auto-playplaylist is selected based on the other attribute than the contents IDof the seed contents.

FIG. 18 shows an example in which the play-start contents is selectedbased on an artist ID. The contents having the artist ID agreeing withthe artist ID of the seed contents is searched from the auto-playplaylist, and the searched contents is determined as the play-startcontents. In the example in FIG. 18, the contents having the artist IDagreeing with the artist ID of Artist A who is the artist of the seedcontents is searched from the auto-play playlist. For example, contentsmay be searched sequentially in a predetermined direction of theauto-play playlist, and the first contents having the artist ID may bedetermined as the play-start contents.

FIG. 19 shows an example in which the play-start contents is selectedbased on a genre ID. This case is similar to the example in which theplay-start contents is selected based on an artist ID. The contentshaving the genre ID agreeing with the genre ID of the seed contents issearched from the auto-play playlist, and the searched contents(Contents A in the example in FIG. 19) is determined as the play-startcontents. For example, contents may be searched sequentially in apredetermined direction of the auto-play playlist, and the firstcontents having the same genre ID may be determined as the play-startcontents.

In this way, in the method in which the play-start contents is selectedbased on the other attribute than the contents ID of the seed contents,the contents searched from the auto-play playlist is selected as theplay-start contents.

Having described that the other attributes than the contents ID to beused for selecting the play-start contents are an artist ID and a genreID, the invention is not limited to the examples. Other attributes maybe used to select the play-start contents. For example, the play-startcontents may be selected based on each field of the contents managementdatabase in FIG. 5 and by using an album ID, for example. Alternatively,the play-start contents may be selected based on the history of play,ranking information, rating and so on. In these cases, contents having ahigher value may be selected as the play-start contents.

Having described that the play-start contents is selected based on theattribute information of the seed contents, the invention is not limitedto the example. For example, the contents listed at the top of theauto-play playlist may be selected as the play-start contents inaccordance with the setting by a user or the hardware specifications ofthe player 1.

The auto-play playlist may be created based on the other lists than thehistory of play as follows:

(1) The playlist defined by a user is used as the auto-play playlist;

(2) The playlist for shuffle play is used as the auto-play playlist; or

(3) The list of latest transferred contents is used as the auto-playplaylist.

The playlist (1) defined by a user is a playlist of contents selected bya user in a predetermined manner from the contents recorded in the harddisk drive 32. For example, contents stored in the PC 2 are selected bya user operation, and a playlist thereof is created in the PC 2. Then,the PC 2 and the player 1 are connected, and the playlist created in thePC 2 is transferred to the player 1. When the contents to be listed onthe playlist is not recorded in the player 1, the contents is alsotransferred from the PC 2 to the player 1. Performing a predeterminedoperation on the operating section 20 of the player 1 can directlycreate a playlist based on the contents recorded on the hard disk drive32. The playlist created by a user may be used as the auto-playplaylist.

The playlist (2) for shuffle-play is a playlist to be used for executinga shuffle-play function of the player 1. The shuffle-play is a play modein which the turns of contents for playing, which are listed on aselected playlist, for example, may be shuffled randomly to play. Forexample, for the shuffle-play mode, a playlist for shuffle-play may beprepared by randomly shuffling the turns of contents for playing on alist selected by a user. The playlist for shuffle-play is used as theauto-play playlist. For example, the auto-play playlist may be aplaylist for shuffle-play, which is created by shuffling the turns ofall contents recorded on the hard disk drive 32, for example.

The playlist (3) of the latest transferred contents is a list ofcontents downloaded from the music server 4 to the PC 2 and transferredto the player 1 within a predetermined period from the current date tothe past. The invention is not limited thereto, but the list may have apredetermined number of pieces of contents downloaded in reversechronological order from the current date to the past. When asubscription service is used in which downloaded contents is playableonly within a predetermined period based on the contract between a userand a contents provider thereof, the auto-play playlist is preferablythe list based on the latest transferred contents.

The subscription service will be described briefly. For example, a usermay pay a fixed fee to and contract with a service provider side (suchas the music server 4) for a predetermined service. On the other hand,the service provider side may perform predetermined encryption oncontents and holds it as subscription contents. The service providerside permits the contracted user to download the subscription contentsand transmits a key for decrypting the encryption of the subscriptioncontents to the user over the Internet 3, for example. The key has anexpiration date, and after the expiration date, the decryption of thecontents with the key is not allowed.

The user records the downloaded subscription contents and the key forthe subscription contents in the player 1. Upon selection of the play ofthe downloaded subscription contents, the subscription contents isdecrypted with the key and is played in the player 1.

In other words, as shown in the example in FIG. 20, encrypted contents100 recorded in the player 1 is decrypted and played with a key 101having an expiration date before the expiration date. The expirationdate of the key 101 is managed by a secure clock 102 the time of whichis unchangeable by a user. Upon play of the encrypted contents 100, thetime defined in the key 101 and the current time counted by the secureclock 102 are compared. If the current time is before the time definedin the key 101, the encryption of the encrypted contents 100 isdecrypted with the key 101. If the current time is after the timedefined in the key 101, the encryption of encrypted audio file is notdecrypted with the key 101.

If the subscription contents expires, a user may extend the expirationdate by paying a predetermined amount of money to the contents provider,whereby the encryption of the encrypted contents 100 can be decryptedwith the key 101. Thus, the play of the subscription contents is nowallowed.

In the subscription service, a service is available for automaticallytransferring subscription contents from a service provider side to auser side. For example, a service provider side (such as the musicserver 4) may prepare contents fitting to the user's preference assubscription contents, and the prepared subscription contents may betransferred to the PC 2 upon connection of the PC 2 to the music server4 over the network 3. The PC 2 automatically transfers the subscriptioncontents to the player 1 upon connection to the player 1 by a user.

The player 1 creates, as a latest transferred contents list, a list ofcontents transferred within a predetermined period from the current dateto the past, including the transferred subscription contents. Thepredetermined period may be one week, ten days, one month and so on, forexample. The latest transferred contents list having a list of contentstransferred through the subscription service may be used as an auto-playplaylist.

In the subscription service, as described above, the subscriptioncontents appropriately selected by the service provider side isautomatically downloaded from the music server 4 to the PC 2 and istransferred from the PC 2 to the player 1. Therefore, the PC 2 and theplayer 1 highly possibly record contents (subscription contents), thatthe user thereof does not recognize. Not limiting to subscriptioncontents, a user may not typically recognize all of contents recorded inan album when contents are recorded in albums in the player 1, forexample.

The use of the latest transferred contents list as an auto-play playlistmay increase the possibility of playing of the contents that a user doesnot recognize during auto-play, which may provide the opportunity tomeet new contents to a user.

For example, a list of the subscription contents may be defined as anauto-play playlist. After the play of contents ends with a list based oncontents data obtained from a CD that a user owns or a list based on analbum that a user has purchased over the network 3, the play-startcontents is selected from the auto-play playlist of the subscriptioncontents based on the contents on the played list.

The auto-play playlist may be created on other basis without limiting tothe example above. The auto-play playlist to be used may actually bepredetermined by user setting.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart describing example processing for performing theauto-play. Notably, before the processing on the flowchart, an auto-playplaylist to be used for the auto-play is preselected by user setting.The rule for selecting the seed contents is also predetermined by usersetting, for example.

In step S40, a list of contents to be played is selected by a user.Notably, the list includes multiple pieces of contents such as an albumtree, an artist tree and genre tree in order of playing and alsoincludes a playlist set by a user. When the list to be played isselected, the play of the selected list is instructed in step S41. Inresponse to the play instruction, the contents on the list aresequentially played. If it is determined (in step S42) that the play ofthe last contents on the list ends, the processing moves to step S43.

In step S43, whether the predetermined time N has passed since no useroperation is performed on the player 1 after the last contents on theplaylist is played in the step S42 or not is determined. If it isdetermined that the predetermined time N has passed, the processingmoves to step S44 where the seed contents is extracted in apredetermined manner based on the played contents. Then, in the nextstep S45, whether the contents having the contents ID agreeing with thecontents ID of the seed contents is included in the selected auto-playplaylist or not is determined.

If it is determined that the contents having the contents ID agreeingwith the contents ID of the seed contents is included in the selectedauto-play playlist, the processing moves to step S46. In step S46, thecontents next to the contents having the contents ID agreeing with thecontents ID of the seed contents is selected as the play-start contents.

Then, the processing moves to step S49 where the auto-play is startedbased on the selected auto-play playlist, and the selected auto-playplaylist is played from the play-start contents. The auto-play iscontinued until an instruction to stop the play is given by a useroperation, for example (step S50), and contents on the selectedauto-play playlist are sequentially played.

On the other hand, if it is determined in the step S45 that no contentson the selected auto-play playlist has the contents ID agreeing withthat of the seed contents, the processing moves to step S47. In stepS47, contents is searched through the selected auto-play playlist basedon predetermined attribute information (such as rating) instead of thecontents ID of the seed contents. In step S48, the contents havingpredetermined attribute information agreeing with that of the seedcontents is selected as the play-start contents based on the searchresult.

The search criteria for contents in step S47 may vary such as the genreand tempo of the seed contents instead of the rating of the seedcontents.

In the processing in steps S47 and 48, contents within the selectedauto-play playlist may be searched based on multiple kinds of attributeinformation instead of the contents ID. For example, contents within theselected auto-play playlist may be searched based on first attributeinformation, and, if no contents on the auto-play playlist has the samefirst attribute information, contents having second attributeinformation, which is defined in a predetermined manner, agreeing withthat of the seed contents is searched within the selected auto-playplaylist.

After the play-start contents is selected, the processing moves to stepS49 where the auto-play is started, and the contents on the selectedauto-play playlist are sequentially played from the play-start contents.

In the determination in step S45, the selected auto-play playlist maynot include contents having the contents ID agreeing with the contentsID of the seed contents, and the selected auto-play playlist may notinclude contents having predetermined attribute information agreeingwith that of the seed contents excluding the contents ID based on thesearch result in step S47. In this case, the first contents on theselected auto-play playlist may be selected as the play-start contents.

When the auto-play is started in step S49, a user is preferably notifiedthat the current play is by auto-play. For example, an indicatorindicating that the current play is by auto-play may be displayed on thedisplay section 10.

FIGS. 22A and 22B show an example of the indicator display on thedisplay section 10. In the play mode before starting the auto-play mode,information on contents being currently played is displayed on thedisplay section 10 in a predetermined manner, as shown in the example inFIG. 22A. When the auto-play is started in step S49, an indicator 80indicating that the current play is by auto-play is displayed in apredetermined manner on the display screen of the information on thecontents being currently played, as shown in the example in FIG. 22B. Inthe example in FIGS. 22A and 22B, the indicator indicates the auto-playwith the text information, “Auto Play”.

The start of the auto-play may be notified by voice, for example,without limiting to the display of the indicator 80 on the displaysection 10. When the auto-play is started in step S49, the microcomputer41 generates digital voice signals in a predetermined manner, and thegenerated digital voice signal are converted to analog voice signals bythe DAC 44 and are supplied to the HP amplifier 45. The analog voicesignals undergo amplification processing in a predetermined manner bythe HP amplifier 45 and are supplied to a headphone, not shown, throughthe terminal 47. Since a user may typically wear the headphone while thecontents is being played by the player 1, the start of the auto-play maybe securely notified to the user.

The voice to be used for the notification of the start of the auto-playmay be simply a beep, human voice synthesized in a predetermined manneror pre-recorded in the hard disk drive 32 or the ROM 42, for example, orother voice. Alternatively, the notification may be given by vibration.

The selectable play modes of the player 1 may include a repeat-play modein which contents are repeatedly played in albums, artists, genres,predetermined playlists and so on. When the repeat play mode is definedas the play mode, the auto-play may be rejected. Theacceptance/rejection of the auto-play mode may be defined by anoperation on the player 1.

Having described only one auto-play playlist is defined, the inventionis not limited to the example. For example, a priority may be given toeach of multiple playlists, which may be used as the auto-playplaylists. After the end of the play of the contents to be played, theplay-start contents may be selected by searching through the multipleprepared auto-play playlist in decreasing order of priorities based onthe seed contents in the played list.

Having described that the auto-play playlist is pre-defined and that thecontents having the contents ID or other attribute information agreeingwith that of the seed contents is searched through the pre-definedauto-play playlist (in step S45 in the flowchart in FIG. 21, forexample), the invention is not limited to this example. In other words,the auto-play playlist may be adjustably selected under a predeterminedcondition.

For example, a playlist including contents having attribute informationpartially agreeing with that of the seed contents may be adjustablyselected as the auto-play playlist.

For example, a case will be considered in which attribute informationfor determining the agreement with the seed contents is “genre”. Whenthe genre of the seed contents is “Rock”, the playlist includingcontents with the genre, “Rock”, is searched from playlists #1 to #nhaving multiple pieces of contents. For example, when the playlist #3includes contents with the genre, “Rock”, the playlist #3 is adjustablyselected as the auto-play playlist. Then, the play is started from thecontents with the genre, “Rock”. The play may be started from anotherposition such as the beginning of the playlist #3.

Many playlists may exist which include contents having predeterminedattribute information agreeing with that of the seed contents. In thiscase, the playlist including more contents having the predeterminedattribute information agreeing with that of the seed contents may beselected as the auto-play playlist. Without limiting thereto, theplaylist including contents having other attribute information agreeingwith that of the seed contents may be selected as the auto-play playlistin addition to the predetermined attribute information.

The method for adjustably selecting the auto-play playlist under apredetermined condition is not limited to the method described above.For example, another playlist similar to information indicating anoverall type of the playlist may be selected as the auto-play playlist.

For example, information indicating a type of playlist being currentlyplayed is calculated. The method of the calculation may includecompiling attribute information of contents included in the playlist anddetermining the highest value as a result of the compilation ofpredetermined attribute information as the information indicating thetype of the playlist. For example, when predetermined attributeinformation is “genre”, the genres of contents included in the playlistmay be compiled, and the genre belonging to the most contents may bedetermined as information indicating the type of the playlist.

More specifically, the genres of contents included in the playlist beingcurrently played are compiled, and, if the genre of the most contents is“Rock”, the type of the playlist is determined as “Rock”. In this case,another playlist of the type, “Rock”, is adjustably selected as theauto-play playlist for the playlist. The information indicating the typeof a playlist may be calculated in advance for each playlist or may becalculated every time the auto-play is performed.

Having described that the invention is applied to the play of contentsin the portable player 1, the present invention is not limited to theexample. In other words, the invention is applicable to players in otherforms which can play contents from a recording medium, which recordscontents accumulatively. For example, the invention is applicable to thePC 2. The invention is further applicable to a stationary player whichrecords contents on a recording medium accumulatively instead of aportable player.

Having described that the recording medium, which accumulatively recordscontents in the player 1 is the hard disk drive 32, the invention is notlimited thereto. For example, the invention is applicable to a playerhaving a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory as a recordingmedium.

Furthermore, the invention is applicable to an apparatus which performsstreaming-play through connection to the Internet instead of recordingcontents within the apparatus accumulatively.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occurdepending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they arewithin the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

1. (canceled)
 2. A player comprising: circuitry configured to control toplay user-selected content data, control to display a plurality ofcontent data which are identified based on attribute information of theuser-selected content data being played, determine whether apredetermined period of time has elapsed without user input afterplaying of the user-selected content data has ended, and in response tothe predetermined period of time elapsing after playing of theuser-selected content data has ended and no user input being receivedduring the predetermined period of time, control to play one of theplurality of the content data.
 3. The player according to claim 2,wherein the circuitry is further configured to generate, using theattribute information of the user-selected content data as seed data, aplaylist including the plurality of other content, and display thegenerated playlist.
 4. The player according to claim 3, wherein theplaylist is generated based on a history of play of content data.
 5. Theplayer according to claim 3, wherein the generated playlist is anordered list of the plurality of content data having an order based onmost recently acquired content data.
 6. The player according to claim 5,wherein the most recently acquired content data is prioritized in theorder of the generated playlist.
 7. The player according to claim 2,wherein the attribute information includes at least one of a content ID,an artist ID, a genre ID, a release date, a frequency of play, aranking, and sales information.
 8. A non-transitory computer-readablemedium storing computer-readable instructions thereon, the computerreadable instructions, when executed by a computer, cause the computerto perform a method comprising: controlling to play user-selectedcontent data, controlling to display a plurality of content data whichare identified based on attribute information of the user-selectedcontent data being played, determining whether a predetermined period oftime has elapsed without user input after playing of the user-selectedcontent data has ended, and in response to the predetermined period oftime elapsing after playing of the user-selected content data has endedand no user input being received during the predetermined period oftime, controlling to play one of the plurality of the content data. 9.The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 8,further comprising generating, using the attribute information of theuser-selected content data as seed data, a playlist including theplurality of other content, and displaying the generated playlist. 10.The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 9,wherein the playlist is generated based on a history of play of contentdata.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim9, wherein the generated playlist is an ordered list of the plurality ofcontent data having an order based on most recently acquired contentdata.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim11, wherein the most recently acquired content data is prioritized inthe order of the generated playlist.
 13. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium according to claim 8, wherein the attributeinformation includes at least one of a content ID, an artist ID, a genreID, a release date, a frequency of play, a ranking, and salesinformation.
 14. A method of causing a player to play content data,comprising: controlling to play user-selected content data, controllingto display a plurality of content data which are identified based onattribute information of the user-selected content data being played,determining whether a predetermined period of time has elapsed withoutuser input after playing of the user-selected content data has ended,and in response to the predetermined period of time elapsing afterplaying of the user-selected content data has ended and no user inputbeing received during the predetermined period of time, controlling toplay one of the plurality of the content data.
 15. The method accordingto claim 14, further comprising generating, using the attributeinformation of the user-selected content data as seed data, a playlistincluding the plurality of other content, and displaying the generatedplaylist.
 16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the playlist isgenerated based on a history of play of content data.
 17. The methodaccording to claim 15, wherein the generated playlist is an ordered listof the plurality of content data having an order based on most recentlyacquired content data.
 18. The method according to claim 17, wherein themost recently acquired content data is prioritized in the order of thegenerated playlist.
 19. The method according to claim 14, wherein theattribute information includes at least one of a content ID, an artistID, a genre ID, a release date, a frequency of play, a ranking, andsales information.